Infidel

By Tim Hetherington

Published by Chris Boot, 2010 – Purchased by Sakse –

Location: Currently on load

Infidel is an intimate portrait of a single U.S. platoon assigned to an outpost in the Korengal Valley – an area considered one of the most dangerous Afghan postings in the war against the Taliban – but it is as much about love and male vulnerability as it is about bravery and war. Embedded with writer Sebastian Junger, and shooting over the course of one year, photographer Tim Hetherington made a series of images that prove surprisingly tender in their depiction of camaraderie and vulnerability (among the most moving is a series of the platoon sleeping). Alongside revealing interviews with Hetherington’s subjects and an introduction by Junger (with whom Hetherington co-directed the award-winning film Restrepo, about the battalion’s work), the book is also illustrated with graphics of the tattoos the soldiers gave each other in the camp. The title Infidel is taken from the tattoo the men adopted as a badge of their comradeship. Warm, moving and full of humour, this book is a tribute to the “rough men ready to do violence on our behalf” and a provocative contribution to the documentation of war in our time.

Available online